Client Science: Advice for Lawyers on Counseling Clients Through Bad News and Other Legal Realities

For most lawyers, effective client counseling is neither intuitive nor easy. Lawyers tend to avoid or delay communicating bad news out of a fear of client backlash, or because they feel torn between the obligation to clearly inform clients about weaknesses in legal positions and fear of damaging the client relationship. There is a perception that honest advice from a lawyer can make a client doubt the allegiance and zeal brought to a particular legal matter. Client Science helps lawyers to effectively communicate with their clients, particularly when delivering bad news or other legal realities. Author, Marjorie Corman Aaron, explains the applicable social sciences and translates insights from these fields into plain language to help improve a lawyer's ordering, timing, phrasing, and type of explanation, as well as style adjustments for the lawyer's voice, gesture, and body position. Ultimately, she demonstrates how the proverbial well-informed client--meaning a client who fully understands and appreciates the lawyer's information and advice — can also be a satisfied client who trusts the lawyer's competence and loyalty.